Washington Nationals: Enny Romero primed for big 2018 season

After showing flashes of brilliance in 2017, Washington Nationals pitcher Enny Romero has the chance to show he belongs at the major-league level.

Washington Nationals relief pitcher Enny Romero showed flashes of brilliance in 2017, posting his best season as a professional.  Romero pitched 55.2 innings for Washington and finished with a 3.56 ERA.

His strong season was overshadowed by his injury (forearm tightness) and the acquisitions of the “law firm” of Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Madson, and Sean Doolittle.  With Romero coming back at full strength in 2018, he will be a source of power in the bullpen.

Romero has all the qualities one looks for in a reliever.  He has an elite 26.5 strikeout percentage.  He does this primarily with a blazing fastball.   According to Fangraphs.com, he throws a fastball 76.8 percent of the time.  His average fastball in 2017 was 97.7 MPH, and he can gun it up to 101 MPH when needed.

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To keep hitters off balance, Romero could work in a changeup.  Romero threw over 1,000 pitches last season, but he threw a changeup only 50 times.  His average changeup was 88.4 MPH, 9.3 MPH slower than his fastball.  Whatever the case may be that prevented him from throwing it more often, an effective changeup to complement his fastball could benefit Romero greatly.

Romero has also shown progress in long(er) relief.  He pitched more than an inning in 13 of his 53 outings.  That accounted for 20.2 innings of work in which he gave up only three earned runs.  While Romero’s role is unlikely to be in long relief, it shows that he is versatile and that he can be trusted to get more than three outs when needed.

However, one thing to be aware of is that Romero is a reverse splits pitcher.  This is a trend that has plagued him his entire career.  In his career, Romero has allowed a .307 batting average to left-handed hitters and a .227 batting average to right-handed hitters.  It would be best that new manager Dave Martinez does not place Romero in a left-handed hitter specialist role as it might do more harm than good.

The Nats will be in need of a go-to left-handed reliever (not named Doolittle) for the middle innings.  Romero can fill in the void that Felipe Rivero left when he was traded two seasons ago.  The Nats will have, at the very least, Doolittle, Matt Grace, Sammy Solis, and Romero as lefties coming out of the pen next season.  Romero can become second on that “depth chart” by June if he can stay healthy.

With Koda Glover healthy to start the 2018 season, he and Romero could make a nice one-two punch in the sixth-seventh innings to set up Madson and Doolittle in the eighth and ninth.  It would be the first time in the last couple seasons where a Nationals manager wouldn’t have to push his starters past 100 pitches consistently.

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Romero will be 27 by the start of the season, which means he’ll be just entering his prime years.  He spent 11 seasons in the minor leagues with the Tampa Bay Rays before arriving in Washington. He has the experience in the minors, and he has the “stuff” to pitch at the major-league level.  Will 2018 be the season he puts it all together?